Author's Note: This chapter and the next are about the same length. I didn't see any good way to break them down without interrupting the story's flow. I hope you enjoy sitting on the edge of your seats for a while.

Colorado Hydra Base
Days Later

As the modified Osprey hover-plane made its final approach, Marcus unsteadily adjusted himself as he sat in the uncomfortable metal seat. Sitting like this for so many hours had irritated the old injury to his leg. He could already tell that his limp was going to be much more pronounced when they finally landed.

This was the first time he had left his home base for any extended period of time since Hydra's downfall. Bradshaw had no other uses for him outside of the base with Teagan gone, so he had only left to go to surrounding areas for days at a time to get out of the underground base for a bit of fresh air, daylight, and openness. He found it ironic how he indulged in the three very things that he had enjoyed denying to Teagan for all those years.

And now he was dangerously putting himself back on the front-line in a hopeful attempt to recapture her.

Since he had never worn a weapon inside of the base, Marcus had to consider if wearing one now would seem out of character. Years ago, he never would have left his personal room without something strapped to his hip. Traveling with his Project, he had guards to deal with any issues as they moved between bases. But now being out in the open as a target, he'd finally decided that it would be logical for him to have something. So he double checked the pistol on his right hip since his left hand would be occupied by his cane.

"Two minutes until landing," the pilot's voice came over the headphones that he was wearing.

"Make sure you land at the marked spot, no deviation," he instructed. The explosives were in place and he needed this plane to eventually get out of here with Teagan. A landing and storage spot away from the hanger had been prepared from where the falling debris of the mountain would gather. He didn't want to take the chance of escape vehicle getting damaged during the possible upcoming fight.

"Yes, Sir. The landing spot has been specially marked for us."

He and the co-pilot had no idea what was really going on. There was a limited number of agents who did hoping to prevent any possible leak of his mission getting out. The group with him looked like standard grunts but were in fact the strike team that would hopefully be capturing Teagan. It was the preliminary cleaning crew which was disposable.

Touching down, they began to file out of the back ramp past the empty cargo boxes that were supposed to give the impression of equipment being unloaded into the new base. It was a lot of deception, but if it worked out in the end, then it was worth it.

Reaching the landing pad, the wind from the upright propellers whipped his short hair around as an agent appeared at his side while another followed him carrying the two luggage bags that contained his personal effects. He was here for however long it might take their base to hopefully be discovered by the right people.

"Sir, we have your accommodations prepared for you," the agent practically had to yell as the engines finally began to shut down.

Looking around the area, Keeling decided to use his arrival as a chance to make his presence known. He began a wide sweep of the landing area, surveying the outlying forest and mountains. It was about mid-day but the temperature was slightly cooler than he would expect, probably due to the altitude.

The workers who had been sent here to start making the area look like it was being up prepared for permanent use were standing off to the side near the large open doors to the base. Their new commander's arrival seemed to have garnered some attention. He wondered how much they had heard about him over the years. Maybe a few of them had even seen him coming or going with Teagan bound for transport. To drive home that he was not someone to get lazy around, he decided to start off by adding to their already heavy work load.

Seeing a large pile of boulders that had fallen from higher up the mountain piled close to the doors, he decided to use them.

Pointing his cane at the tired looking group, he motioned for them to come to him, which they scurried to do.

"I want those rocks out of my sight," he firmly instructed them, pointing at the offending items.

He could see all of their shoulders drop at knowing how hard the task was going to be, which was why they hadn't done it already.

"Yes, Sir," one of them stated before they moved off.

Marcus walked the perimeter of the pad inspecting nothing in particular before finally heading inside. He would have to make sure that he gave similar orders every day until they were sure they were being watched. He also knew there was a chance that the attack may happen without any type of warning.

"Sir, I'll show you inside," Agent Harper of the strike team, wearing dirty work overalls, came to stand next to him while another lower agent held took over control his two bags from the disguised strike team agent.

"Very well," he told him, turning to finally go inside. Only once they were inside of the base's main door, out of earshot, did he speak again. Cryptically he asked, "I want to see what was prepared."

"I thought you might," Harper nodded his head, then indicated a metal passage door close by.

Following him inside, they began to work their way through the concrete passages. He had received the reports from the initial team sent out to prepare the base so he knew the work had been done, but he wanted to see it for himself. After only a few turns, they reached a plain door which had been painted red. The color would help him to find it easily later on.

"This is the escape route," Harper stated as he opened the door to show him the metal rung ladder that went straight up. The space had originally been a closet under thirty feet of solid rock. But, he had a construction survey crew come and find the best location for an escape tunnel to be created. The distance from this point here to the surface of the mountainside was the shortest distance. It had taken then just over a month to have it ready. Once it was, he'd had the information about the location leaked out.

"Where is the trigger for the symtech?" he asked looking around.

"At the top, next to the cover lid, that way there is no chance of the explosive going off without someone intentionally making it," he told him.

For him, this would be the worst part of the entire mission. With the deterioration of his leg muscle, he could still get up the rungs but it was going to be very painful. Once back outside, the trip down the mountain would be just as hard since there was no distinct path to make the trip on.

"Is the cover well concealed?"

"Yes, I did it myself," Harper told him. "I found smaller rocks from the immediate surrounding area along with dirt, limbs and leaves. It's covered in at least three inches of debris making it impossible to just stumble over. But the material is lightweight so that you can easily push from below to open the hatch."

Marcus was impressed with the effort he had gone into. It seemed that Harper had been a good choice to use, so hopefully his strike team was just as efficient as he was.

"From this point forward, tell your men to be prepared for a raid on the base at any time. No one is to go out beyond the fence. I don't want to possibly spook anyone out there watching us."

"I'll inform my team," Harper said. "I'll show you to your quarters."

As they headed, Marcus wondered how long it would be before they made their move. There was no way to know if the faulty information had even made it to them.

All he could do now was sit and wait.

Clint's Safe House

"He sure didn't waste any time letting them know who was in charge," Sam told the group as they watched the video feed of Keeling arriving at the base and immediately ordering his men into a pointless task. It was almost comical watching the three guys trying to push a good sized boulder that had fallen off the mountain away from the entrance to the base.

For the past five days, Nat had the feed playing constantly on a laptop but with all of the workers constantly moving around the outside, she had set up a secondary analysis to monitor for any type of heavy activity. They had just been alerted by an steady beeping which quickly became annoying. The only one who had not hurriedly moved to the laptop was Teagan.

Instead, she was standing frozen in the den watching them huddled around the kitchen table.

"Is it him?" she finally asked, her voice soft and worried.

"Yes," Steve simply told her.

"It looks like he's using a cane," Steve commented. "Did he have one when you last saw him?"

"No, but he did have a limp."

Sam had only found part of the file on Keeling, most of it dealing with his time as head of Project Cherry Tree. There was no record as to why he had that injury that gave him the limp. Even after spending eleven years with him, Teagan had never learned why either. He was not one to give out personal information, Sam had learned.

"Did you see the bags that were brought out of the plane with him?" Nat pointed out, rewinding the video a bit so that they saw what she had. Indicating them on the screen, "I'd guess that those are his since the other all are carrying duffles, and they're large enough that I think he's planning on being there for some time. If he was there for only a day or two then he could use a much smaller single bag."

"I agree," Steve nodded as he sat down on the closest chair and began to watch the screen.

After Teagan had gone to bed for the past two nights, the three of them had taken a few minutes to discuss how to carry out the mission with the information that Nat had been able to obtain on the base. But eventually he had also brought up the possibility of just giving it a pass and letting real authorities handle it. Sam could see that his mind was contemplating on whether to not to go ahead with the mission to capture Keeling or to just pass it off to Shield.

There was always a chance that if they passed it off that a Shield team might not act in time while he was still at the base or that they may not make him the same high level target that they would.

The biggest motivation for all of them was trying to give Teagan some piece of mind when it came to Keeling.

Even before Steve spoke, Sam knew what he was going to say.

"We're a go."

Hydra Base - Hours After Arrival

Marcus had gathered the Strike Team members in the small conference room for a final detailed meeting to go over his instruction as to what he expected to happen here once they were, hopefully, attacked.

"The only ones at this base who know of the real reason for us being here are as of right now in this room," he started off. "Every other agent at this base is to be considered expendable for the duration of this mission."

"We understand," the Team leader named Hawkins responded, getting acknowledgement nods from the others.

"Good. Now, have there been any signs or reports which show that our location might have already been compromised?" he asked.

"Not as of yet," Hawkins told him. "We did an initial patrol days ago when we arrived, sending out just one man so that if anyone was watching at that time that they would not feel threatened. He reported back that there was no signs of any disturbances at the locations we would consider prime surveillance locations."

"That could just mean that they had not arrived here yet," he said more to himself.

"And now with your arrival, I was not planning on any more patrols. If they are out there, I felt it would be better if they felt we were sloppy or overconfident as the base is just being readied."

Marcus nodded his approval at the idea.

"And all of you understand the mission parameters?" he looked around the table at the assembled men. He used his computer to pull her picture up to the screen at the end of the room. It was from just a few weeks before she had been taken to the Raft, her ginger hair highly unkempt, but it showed close to her current age. "Teagan is to be taken into custody unharmed, or as much as possible if she puts up a fight. With her powers, every member must take special precautions to prevent her from using her powers to take over your mind. She could order you to kill your own teammates with a single unstoppable command."

"I've made sure that every member of my team has thoroughly read the report on her and the powers she possesses," Hawkins told him. "The detainment equipment and suits we need to deal with her have already been distributed. When the times comes, she'll not be able to stop us."

He nodded his approval again.

"As for the secondary target, Falcon, alive is necessary...undamaged is not."

"My man has been training on the net stun-gun for a few weeks now. I'm confident that he'll have no problem taken him down from the sky."

They spent the remainder of the meeting going over the final details of the Strike Team using the escape tunnel to locate Teagan. Marcus was sure that they would not bring her into the base with them, instead deciding she would be safer located at the Quinjet they had been spotted using last year. That was what they had done on the mission with the bomb. Only bringing her inside once it was considered necessary to retrieve the disarming code.

There had been limited spots in the surrounding woods where they could have landed it and he'd had the foresight to have the initial preparation team cover the areas with debris as to make them unsuitable. That would leave them with at least one perfect landing spot closer to the base. He hoped they would not choose one of the further ones, but that would mean they would not be able to guard Teagan during their assault.

Now, it was just a matter of waiting.

Clint's Safe House - The Next Day

"I would still prefer for you to stay here," Sam told her as she changed into the all black outfit that had been selected for her to wear. Even if she was not supposed to get out of the Quinjet, she was dressing to be able to blend in and hide if necessary.

Shaking her head, "No. I need to see him taken down."

Teagan knew that Sam was just worried for her, about what might happen once they brought Keeling bound before her. It was not like she would lose her mind or anything. She just needed to see him that final time with their roles finally reversed, just like she had been wanting for over the past decade.

"Just promise me that you'll stay on the Quinjet, no matter what," Sam's arms slid around her bare waist as his lips found her neck tattoo, a favorite spot for him to kiss.

"I doubt there is anything that would get me to leave the safety of it," she pointed out.

"Good," he told her with a final kiss to her neck before he headed over to the chair in the corner of their bedroom where his uniform had been patiently waiting for the past few days.

"How long is the flight to get there?" she asked continuing to dress.

"About fifteen minutes," he told her. "But we may have a wait once arriving until we give the base a final good scouting. We'll not move in until we are sure."

"I can wait," she told him. "As long as he's eventually taken down, I'll wait days just to make sure."

"Just don't let it get to you," he told her. "If you start to worry or panic, I need you to tell me immediately. Don't worry about what the others think either. They know how badly he hurt you and how much this mission means. They're here for you."

That made her pause just as she sat on the bed to put on her shoes.

"If you had never met me, and you found out about this base becoming used, would you all have gone after it?"

"Of course," Sam told her without a doubt. "It's still Hydra. They need to be stopped at all costs."

That made her feel a bit better, knowing that stopping Hydra in general meant so much to them.

Standing dressed and ready, she watched Sam as he finished with his own uniform. But as she did so, a feeling of dread started to wash over her.

For the first time in so long, she would be so close to Keeling.

She had already pumped herself up so that she would not be afraid, but as time for them to leave drew steadily closer, that bit of bravery was starting to slip.

No, she told herself. Capturing Keeling was their job, not hers. All she had to do was sit there and watch. The next time she was in arms reach of him, he would be bound on his knees before her. There was no reason for her to be afraid of him anymore.

"Ready?" Sam asked as she was pulled back to the moment.

"Yes," she told him taking a calming breath. "Let's go."

On The Quinjet - Close to Hydra Base

Watching the monitor with Nat's security feed of the base, Sam saw a handful of Hydra goons moving around the large garage and storage area trying to look busy. They seemed to have been tasked with menial jobs that they didn't care to be doing. One was sweeping the extensive floor while another was up on a tall ladder changing out light bulbs hanging up in the rafters. There were even two off to the side checking their phones and laughing at something.

He had to chuckle a bit at that, hoping that Hydra didn't pay by the hour.

"Any sign of Keeling?" Steve asked from over his shoulder.

"About twenty minutes ago he came out and looked to be barking orders at everyone," he told him. "He headed back inside through the second door on the left side."

"Then unless we see him before moving in, that's where I'll head," Steve told him.

"Still want me in the air to handle the guys already outside?"

There were a few guys working on cleaning up the overgrown plants between the landing platform and fence.

"Yes," he said. "Nat and I'll push through them and deal with any still inside or protecting Keeling. See if you can draw them out into the open. Once the area is clear, you can join us inside."

"That shouldn't be a problem. They look so bored that I'm sure they'd love a distraction," Sam joked.

"We're here," Nat called out from the pilot's seat.

They had come in high and slow, giving her a chance to find the open area they had spotted earlier that would allow them to land the Quinjet close to the base. It wasn't far away from the landing pad, still being inside of the fence enclosing a chunk of the forest area. With the jet in stealth, nobody at the base would be able to spot it, but peering through the tree cover, Teagan would be able to partially see the base.

"Everybody geared up?" Steve asked looking around.

"Ready," Nat replied as she got up from the seat, moving to the ramp's controls.

Sam turned to Teagan who had been sitting over on the bench across from him. She had made the comment earlier about staying out of their way but he could tell how nervous she was.

Walking over to her, he placed his hands on her shoulders, making her turn to look at him.

"Just stay here and we'll be back in a little while."

"Be careful," she said but then looked over at Steve and Nat. "All of you."

"We will," Steve told her as he stood with his hand on the ramp's control. "Shut this behind us."

Teagan stood up, following him over to the ramp.

"I've already set the console up to show my visor's scans," he told her.

Teagan then leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his lips, not caring about the others being there.

"Don't take any chances," she told him. "You don't have to show off for me today."

"He'll behave," Nat told her as Steve lowered the ramp.

"See you soon," he told her, running a finger across her chin, giving him a smile he hoped conveyed his confidence of this mission going smoothly.

On The Quinjet

"One guard down," Natasha's voice came in over the comm system.

She was to take out anyone standing between her and Steve getting inside of the base.

"Two down," Steve then commented.

"Sam, we're at the opening. You can take off now," Nat stated as she watched the screen showing Sam's point of view. A second later, she saw that he took off heading straight up through the opening of tree limbs that he had found.

"On the move," he told everyone.

Teagan watched as he came in for a diving punch on a guy holding a shovel, taking him completely by surprise. When Sam turned to look at the next guy, she could see that he was trying to figure out what was going on as he was being moved in on.

For the next minute, she watched Sam take out the handful of guards working outside, trying to knock them out either with his fists or the gun that Natasha had given him with specialized bullets that contained some kind of special sleeping agent bullets.

Over the earcom, she was able to listen to Steve and Natasha moving through into the base dealing with their own guys. Their plan was for Sam to take out the guys inside the hanger area so they didn't leave their back exposed before moving further into the base to look for Keeling.

They had mentioned the possibility that he might even appear, hoping to find out what was going on.

"Steve, on your six," Natasha's voice called out moments before the sound of gunfire started. It seemed they had found some resistance.

The comm system was a mixture of punching sounds, grunts, gunfire, and splintering wood for the next few minutes. But nobody even mentioned a sighting of Keeling, so she could only hope that he had trapped himself inside with the hopes of his men being able to handle

Interior of Hydra Base

Marcus' office door slammed open, startling him to the point where he jumped slightly at the intrusion.

"Sir, the base is under attack!"

This was it!

Standing, he hurriedly walked into the next room where the security feeds had been set up. He had not wanted them far from him. He could already feel his blood starting to pump, knowing that it was now time to put his plan into motion.

"Did they land in the nearby clearing we suspected they would use?" he eagerly asked.

"Ground motions sensors were activated. I've already deployed the Strike Team. They are heading out to the possible location of the jet. They are already through the escape tunnel and out on the far side of the mountain," the Harper informed him with a knowing grin. "We should be hearing from them shortly as to confirmation on the initial target."

Harper then moved over to sit at his own set of monitors to view the body camera of his team displayed on them.

"How far have the intruders gotten?" he asked the two agents in charge of monitoring.

"They just made it into the hanger area. Two of them. There is a third outside, and it looks like it's the Falcon."

He couldn't help the smirk that formed on his lips.

"Make sure they are deep enough inside before setting off the charges," he instructed. "I don't want to take the chance of them running out. Are all the interior hanger doors secured?"

"Yes, Sir. I threw the switch the moment we had confirmation on the attack. They'll not be able to leave the hanger by getting into the base."

Marcus watched on the screen as Captain America and Black Widow fought with the unsuspecting work crew selected to be here for the raid. Even with the low numbers of Hydra members, there were quite a few that were less than fighting proficient. He had made sure that they were the ones that formed the remodeling crew for the base.

They were either lazy or incompetent, meaning they were useless and expendable.

"Sir, they are almost to the closest base door," he was told. "I would suggest not waiting too much longer, otherwise they might grow suspicious with the interior doors being locked."

"Then go ahead and set off the charges. They should be at a point that doesn't give them enough distance to be able to retreat."

"Initiating countdown…three, two, one…"

Hydra Base's Open Hanger Area

"Is it just me or are these guys a pushover?" Nat called out to Steve as they watched two of the Hydra men actually turn and run away towards the open hanger door. Steve was half way across the hanger from her, taking down another worker. Two were already downed at her feet unconscious.

"They're not actual combatants, like some others," Steve told her, his punch knocking the guy out. "Just the lowest members without any training, sent here to work."

That was when they heard the sudden deafening sound of a nearby explosion as the ground under them began to shake violently.

"Steve?" she called out, worried at what was going on.

Turning around towards the hanger opening far behind them, she watched as a cascade of dirt and smaller rocks began to pour like water from off of the mountain to the landing area that had just been swept by another guy not long ago. Then the smaller rocks quickly became large boulders that impacted on the concrete, some shattering, others not.

That was when she saw two Hydra goons who were running in the direction of an interior door, hoping to reach cover deeper in the base. But the door that they reached would not open for them, for some reason it was locked down. Making a hasty decision, the goons then began to run towards the hanger opening which was a cascade of boulders.

Nat knew that trying to leave the way they had just come in would be suicide right now, but they didn't seem to understand that. As they reached the opening, she could only watch as the two of them were crushed underneath the stones that were starting to collect there. They wouldn't be getting up ever again.

That was when more explosions rocked the two of them again, and these were located close to the opening but inside of the hanger area. The arching support ceiling beams were being separated from the wall.

The ceiling began to collapse, allowing the already tumbling rocks to begin to pour further into the hanger area.

Knowing heading the doors were useless, Nat turned and began to run towards the furthest point away from the crushing rocks, seeing a blur not far away doing the same. Steve was moving towards her, gaining quickly, but she still had nowhere to go.

"Nat! The pillar!" Steve called out to her, pointing in the direction he wanted her to move.

She made a straight line for the vertical support pillar of the roof that was comprised of concrete and a steel I-beam that ran from floor to ceiling. Due to the shape, it had a small jutting area that would block off some of the debris that was starting to sweep in towards them.

Reaching the wall, she felt smaller chunks of the ceiling impacting on her back as she tried to find cover. Then the bruising items stopped raining down onto her as Steve covered her body with his own as he pushed them into the small corner. His body formed the exposed part of the triangle as he blocked her from being crushed, absorbing the terrible amount of damage himself.

"Steve!" she could see the grimace on his face, the grinding of his teeth, as he just stood there blocking her from getting injured.

"Damn I miss my shield sometimes," he told her as the debris around their feet began to climb higher up their legs.

Nat wrapped her arms around Steve's head as they were slowly buried alive under the crushing materials that formed the base's ceiling.

Outside - Moments Earlier

Sam was diving in on the last standing worker when he heard the sound of an explosion moments before the shock-wave of it pushed him sideways. Small chunks of debris rained over him and he narrowly avoided larger pieces of trees and rocks flying through the air away from the mountain. The man he had been aiming for was struck in his side by a splintered limb, knocking him to the ground bleeding.

Spinning around, he saw the flames and smoke higher up the mountain's side moments before dirt and debris began to slide down towards the ground.

Dropping closer to the ground, he was able to see Steve and Nat looking out towards him through the raining material. Two men who had been running towards the outside were violently stopped in their tracks and quickly buried over.

More explosions happened, and it took him a moment to figure out that these ones were located inside of the hanger area. Nat began to run away from the opening, Steve turning and quickly sprinting over towards her.

"Steve! Nat!" he called out on the earcom, but he didn't get any response. The rumbling sound of the avalanche that was sloshing off the mountain was louder than standing next to a freight train roaring passing. There was no way the two of them would hear their response if they even could.

The last he saw of his friends were them cowering in a corner as the ceiling crushed down onto them.

Inside the Quinjet

Teagan sat in the chair with her mouth gaping open as she watched through Sam's video feed the devastating scene of Steve and Natasha dying inside of the Hydra base. There was no way anyone could survive a mountain dropping on top of them. Not even Captain America.

With her face buried in her hands, tears began to stream down her cheeks as she heard Sam yelling for their friends, but receiving no response.

That was when something slammed into the side of the Quinjet, rocking it so violently that she was knocked sideways out of the seat. Looking up from her spot on the floor, she saw all of the electronics as they began to spark and blink, as if trying to decide whether to stay on or not. Glancing out of the pilot's window, she saw smoke and the hint of flames.

The Quinjet was on fire!

Jumping back up into the seat, she scanned the console for the right button.

"Sam! Help!" she yelled out while holding the open-com button. With the console buzzing with sparks, she had no idea of he could hear her. The scene from his visor still showing him looking towards where Steve and Natasha last were, so she didn't think it was working properly.

A red light started to flashing inside the jet, along with a jarring claxon sound indicating something was very wrong. It had to be the jet's fire alarm warning her of the danger.

"Sam! Can you hear me?" she tried the console again. This time, the video showed Sam looking her way and Teagan was able to see the outside of the Quinjet.

There was fire and smoke blocking a good portion of the view but she did manage to see black shapes moving around the distant perimeter. Hydra was moving in on the jet. Static buzzing came over the internal comms, which she guessed was Sam trying to tell her something, but not a single word he said was clear.

The only thing she was sure of was that if she stayed inside of here, that those black shapes would eventually have her surrounded…if the fire didn't get to her first.

Making a quick decision, Teagan grabbed Sam's black coat to cover up with, hoping it gave her some cover for hiding in the forest. Tossing it on while moving to the back of the jet, she slammed her fist onto the ramp's control button to open it.

Nothing happened.

Pressing it like an impatient elevator call button, after a dozen tries the power finally stopped flickering long enough for the ramp to start lowering. Giving a sigh of relief, Teagan darted away from the jet the moment there was enough room to get out.

The sounds of the avalanche were still going, but much quieter than she would have suspected. After only a few feet, she dared to glance over towards the base. The larger initial down pouring of rocks had considerably slowed and were blocking off the entire door opening into the hanger. If someone had not seen it before, they would never know it had been there to begin with.

Reaching the overgrown car path, Teagan tried to figure out which way to go, along the path which was faster but left her open, or into the woods which was slower and provided cover. There had not been any plan as to where to meet up in case something like this happened, so she had to only guess what Sam would want her to do.

Thinking of him, Teagan wondered if he was coming for her. If she stayed on the car path, he could easily grab a hold of her and fly the two of them out of here.

Pausing to look at where he had been on the other side of the landing pad, Teagan could make him out near the top of the trees. He seemed to still be focusing on the base, not realizing that she had even left the jet. He must not have seen her running away.

Hearing movement approaching from the woods behind her, Teagan decided to run down the open path to put some distance between her and the Hydra agents that were approaching.

That was when she heard the sound of gunfire.

Glancing over her shoulder, she watched tracer rounds going from the ground towards where she saw Sam dodging and weaving in the sky. Suddenly, there was a single strange loud bang as the air resonated with a buzzing sound. A glowing projectile large enough for her to see was heading right for Sam.

Teagan stopped running away and screamed out, "Sam!"

A second later, she watched as his entire body was lit up inside some kind of electrical field. His upward momentum was then halted as his wings folded up back inside of his pack, leaving Sam to instantly begin a free-fall. His body disappeared behind the tree-line not far from where the curving road took her.

Changing her direction entirely so that she could dart up the dirt road towards where Sam would land, Teagan heard the crunching sound of him impacting hard onto the concrete of the landing pad. There was no way he could have fallen from that height and survived.

Teagan pushed her body with every ounce of strength she had to make it up the path as quickly as she could. She had to get to him, she had to see if he was alright.

Passing by a break in the trees, it allowed her a glimpse of his non-moving form lying sprawled out on the ground. She skidded to a stop.

"Sam!" she screamed out, hoping to he would turn his head to look at her.

He didn't.

Sam was dead.

A piercing sting on the side of her back had Teagan reaching around to see what had bitten her.

Feeling a foreign object, her hand pulled out a small syringe-type dart that was empty. Dropping it to the ground, she looked back over at Sam's body, willing him to stand up.

But he didn't.

Black covered moving beings entered her sight from all directions, numerous guns aimed at her from only a few feet away.

That was when her own legs gave out from under her. Falling to her knees as she lost feeling in her entire body, her mind began to swirl with dread at the realization as to what was currently happening.

Sam and all of her friends were dead and she was surrounded by Hydra. She tried to scream out, a mixture of fear and anger running through her, but her voice failed her.

Her last thought was that she didn't even have a gun to put to her own head.

Teagan barely registered the fact when she fell flat on her back as the darkness encompassed her consciousness.